Ancient Einkorn WheatTolerated By Many With Gluten IntoleranceEinkorn Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

Many people with gluten sensitivities tolerate einkorn wheat.
Vegan einkorn banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts.

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Einkorn Wheat
My husband is sensitive to gluten. The minute he eats a piece of bread, he sneezes or gets stuffy. Worst of all (for me), he snores at night. So now he mostly avoids wheat.

A few months ago Doug bought some Einkorn wheat flour and Einkorn whole wheat pasta to try. It's an ancient form of wheat that was cultivated thousands of years ago. Modern wheat has been hybridized for various reasons (improve yield, increase gluten content, etc.) and some think that this has lead to the increase in wheat sensitivity. Although people with celiac should not consume any form of wheat or grain that contains gluten, some gluten sensitive people have reported little or no reaction to this type of wheat. Doug has had no reaction to items baked with All-Purpose Einkorn flour or eating Einkorn whole wheat pasta (which is very yummy.) Many claim it's even more digestible than spelt.

Einkorn wheat contains different
gluten than modern wheat

Not all Gluten is Created Equal
Modern wheat contains the A and D Genome. Einkorn does not contain the D Genome which is what is used to detect the presence of gluten in an Elisa test. Wheat gluten studies show Einkorn may be non-toxic to some people who suffer from gluten intolerance.

Oldest and Simplest Form of Wheat
Einkorn is diploid, containing 2 sets of chromosomes. Emmer wheat has four sets, and spelt and modern wheat has 6 sets (hybridizing passes the chromosomes from the different plants to the hybridized plant). With only 2 sets of chromosomes, Einkorn is the oldest and simplest form of wheat there is which may explain its naturally low gluten content.

Other Benefits
Einkorn wheat has twice the vitamin A (in retinol equivalents), three to four times more beta-carotene, three to four times more lutein, and four to five times more riboflavin than modern wheat.

You can also get Einkorn whole wheat pasta.

It's Not a 1:1 Substitute
Modern wheat absorbs more water than Einkorn so when you are baking with Einkorn, you can not just substitute it 1:1 in your normal recipes. Einkorn has some recipes that you can practice with while you are getting the hang of using this flour. Here's my favorite vegan banana bread recipe from my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen, that has been modified for Einkorn flour. 

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Einkorn Banana Bread with Walnuts and Chocolate Chips 
Vegan, Dairy Free, Less Gluten
[makes 12 servings]

Requires an 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan or three 5 3/4" x 3" mini-loaf pans.
Best with an electric hand mixer.

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil plus some for greasing pan
2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
4 tablespoons room temperature water
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas (2 bananas)
2 cups all-purpose organic einkorn flour
2 packets stevia
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped English walnuts
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease the pans.

In a small cup, make flax eggs by beating the ground flaxseeds with water. Beat well and set aside. 

In a large bowl, add oil, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla and beat with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Add mashed bananas and flax eggs and beat again until well combined.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, stevia, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat with electric hand mixer until well combined. 

Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared loaf pan or three mini pans.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the loaf, about 40 to 50 minutes for the large loaf pan or 25 to 35 minutes for mini loaf pans.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Remove the loaf from the pan and place upright on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve. 

Nutrition
Per serving: 210 calories, 10 grams total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g protein, 28 g carbohydrates, and 186 mg sodium.

Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

A delightful way to eat oatmeal in the heat of the summer.

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Keep Oats in your Diet
Oats have the fiber "beta-glucan" which can help lower bad cholesterol which in turn lowers the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. But when the weather heats up, you may not crave a bowl of hot oatmeal.

Adding uncooked rolled oats to your favorite smoothie is a refreshing way to get those healthy oats into your diet. Here's a simple recipe that uses seasonal strawberries and provides 6 grams of fiber per serving.

In the following recipe, you can substitute the almond butter and water for almond milk or any nondairy milk. 

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Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Smooth
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free (see note)
[makes 2 (1 1/2 Cup) Servings]

Requirements
High Speed Blender

Ingredients
1 tablespoon almond butter
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 packet stevia

Directions
Place all the ingredients in your high speed blender and process until smooth.

Nutrition
Per serving: 206 calories, 7 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 124 mg omega-3 and 1498 mg omega-6 fatty acid, 5 g protein, 36 g carbohydrates, 6 g dietary fiber, and 4 mg sodium.

Note
Although oats are naturally gluten free, they are sometimes cross contaminated. So if you have celiac or are extremely sensitive to gluten, use certified gluten free rolled oats.

Mango Cake - The Perfect Vegan And Gluten Free Easter Dessert

This gluten and dairy free dessert is the
perfect ending to your Easter Brunch.

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My Favorite Mango
Our favorite little mangoes are in season. They come with many names like Manilla, Ataulfo, Champagne, and Honey, with slight variations and places of origin. But they are all small (around 9 to 11 ounces) and as sweet as sugar.

Doug and I have been under the weather so to cheer ourselves up, and with the excuse of having to create an Easter dessert for the blog, we created a cake on Sunday with our very favorite fruit.

These are smaller, less stringy, and much sweeter than the large, more commonly found mangoes.

Easter Sunday is a great time to have family and friends over for brunch and this dessert is a good choice. It's vegan and gluten free so besides delighting everyone's taste buds, it will accommodate most everyones dietary issues. (See "Variation" below for a whole wheat version of the recipe.)

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Mango Cake
Vegan, Gluten and Dairy Free
[makes 12 servings]

Requirements
Electric Hand Mixer
9" round cake pan
Waxed paper, cut in a 9" circle

Ingredients
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan 
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds 
6 tablespoons warm filtered water 
1 (10-ounce or more) Champagne mango
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill all purpose baking flour 
1½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder 
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut plus some for sprinkling
½ cup organic cane sugar 
½ cup unsweetened applesauce 
1 teaspoon coconut extract 
1 mashed ripe banana
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F; grease a 9" round cake pan and insert a 9" circle of wax paper on the bottom of the pan.

In a small cup, make flax eggs by combining the ground flax seeds with the water. Beat well and set aside. After a few minutes, beat again until gooey. Set aside. 

Peel the mango with a potato peeler. Cut the mango off the seed and dice in small pieces. Some will be used in the cake and some will be used for the topping. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt and the shredded coconut. 

In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar, applesauce, and coconut extract; beat with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Add the mashed banana and flax eggs and beat again until well combined.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat with the electric mixer until well combined. The mixture will be quite stiff.

Fold in 1/2 cup of the diced mango and set the rest of it aside. 

Spread evenly into the prepared cake pan.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the cake pan for 30 minutes. Cut around the edges of the cake pan and flip the cake out onto a plate. Peel off the wax paper.

I like the looks of the browned top of the cake better than the bottom so flip over again onto the final serving plate. Let the cake cool completely before you proceed.

Pile the rest of the diced mango onto the center of the cake. Sprinkle a bit of shredded coconut over the mango and dust the entire cake with powdered sugar. 

Slice, making sure each piece has some diced mango over it, and serve.

Nutrition
Per serving: 181 calories, 7 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 310 mg omega-3 and 538 mg omega-6 fatty acids*, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g dietary fiber, and 190 mg sodium. 

* Nutritional information for omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids excludes any contribution from Bob’s Redmill all purpose baking flour and xanthan gum since that information was not available from the manufacturer.

Variation
For a whole wheat cake, replace the gluten-free flour with King Arthur’s white whole-wheat flour, omit the xanthan gum, and increase the applesauce to 2/3 cup.

For more menu and recipe ideas, download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen.

Low-Calorie, Vegan Banana-Nut Apple Muffins Made With Ancient Einkorn Wheat

These delicious muffins are only 180 calories each!

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Einkorn Wheat
Because of my husband's slight allergic reaction to wheat, we often bake with Einkorn wheat or eat Einkorn pasta. It's not gluten free but because it's an ancient form of wheat (and hasn't been hybridized to increase the gluten content like modern wheat has), it is generally tolerated by many people who are sensitive to gluten. 

This recipe is made with
organic Einkorn all-purpose flour.

This morning I was in the mood for a muffin. I'm trying to lose a few pounds and wanted to keep the calories low so I used very little sugar and less oil than most recipes.  I also wanted to use one of the beautiful Fuji apples we just harvested from our tree. So here's what we came up with.

This recipe is specifically for Einkorn flour. Modern wheat absorbs more water than Einkorn so it can not be substituted one for one.

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Einkorn Banana-Nut Apple Muffins 
Vegan, Dairy Free, Low Gluten
[makes 12 muffins]

Requires a muffin pan.
Best with an electric hand mixer

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil plus some for greasing pan
2 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
4 tablespoons room temperature water
2 tablespoons organic cane sugar
1/3 cup organic apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large very ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups Einkorn all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon stevia powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon plus some for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup English walnuts, chopped
1 apple, peeled and diced

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease the muffin tins.

In a small cup, make flax eggs by beating the ground flaxseeds with water. Beat well and set aside until they get gooey.

In a large bowl, add oil, sugar, applesauce and vanilla and beat with an electric hand mixer until creamy. Add mashed bananas and flax eggs and beat again until well combined.

In a medium bowl, mix Einkorn flour, stevia, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat with an electric hand mixer until well combined.

Fold in walnuts and diced apples. Using an ice cream scoop (or large spoon), fill the greased muffin tins with the batter. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on each muffin.

Ready for baking

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the muffins, about 20 to 23 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. 

After baking

Remove muffins from the pan and serve warm with low-calorie jam or vegan cream cheese.

Nutrition
Per muffin: 180 calories, 9 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 756 mg omega-3 and 2,522 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 4 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 186 mg sodium.

Peach And Peanut Butter Smoothie With Chia Seeds

Peaches and peanut butter pair beautifully in this smoothie.

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For more recipes, download Heath Begins in the Kitchen.

Peach Season
We found some big, beautiful, juicy peaches at the market the other day. This morning we decided to blend some up into a smoothie.

Now peaches and peanut butter might seem an unlikely combination, but they pair beautifully. Besides being delicious together, the peanut butter balances the carbs of the fruit with some fat and protein which keeps you full longer. Almond butter will do the same thing so if you are allergic to peanuts, you can make that substitution. Using peanut butter, each serving provides 5 grams of protein.

I also add some soaked chia seeds to this recipe to improve the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids since peanut butter (and almond butter too) is far richer in omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3. This recipe provides close to a gram of omega-3 per serving. Chia seeds are also a good source of fiber and calcium. Each serving of this smoothie has 7 grams of dietary fiber!

And let's not forget the star of the show. Peaches are a great source of fiber and vitamins A and C, each large peach providing 3 grams of dietary fiber, 19% of your daily requirement of vitamin C and 11% of vitamin A.  

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Peach and Peanut Butter Smoothie
Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free
[makes 2 servings]
Requires a blender.

Ingredients
1 large banana (cut in 4 pieces, frozen)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
2 cups water, divided
2 large peaches, pitted and sliced with skin
1 tablespoon organic peanut butter
4 drops of stevia or other sweetener

Directions
The night before, cut the banana into 4 pieces and place in the freezer. If you plan on using frozen instead of fresh peaches, you don't have to freeze the banana.

About 20 to 30 minutes before you make the smoothie, soak the chia seeds in 1/2 cup of the water. Stir vigorously and set aside. Stir again from time to time until the chia seeds absorb most of the water.

Place the frozen banana, soaked chia seeds and all their liquid, the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water, the peaches, peanut butter and sweetener in the blender. 

Blend until smooth and serve immediately.

Nutrition
Per serving (2): 204 calories, 6 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 906 mg omega-3 and 1,546 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 5 g protein, 37 g carbohydrates, 7 g dietary fiber and 34 mg sodium.